St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-03
eL0panS
Return From the G. A. r.
Encampment.
Some Cable Line Chat---Rev.
S. G. Smith Scores the
MisepS.
CARDINAL GIBBONS SERMON.
He breaches Charity and Broth
erly Love to an Immense Con
greSation.

erly Love 10 an immense Con-
gregation.
Every nook and corner of the cathe-
dral was filed yesterday morning by 10
o'clock, the crowd being drawn thither
by an announcement made in the press
that Cardinal Gibbons would deliver a
sermon. The congregation was made
up of all nationaltieS and creeds. The
following gentlemen acted as ushers:
AleSSrS. Mccarthy, Willis, Kavanagh,
King. DOnnelly and Athey.
4 pontiiical high mass was celebrated,
Bishop Marty being the celebrant and
Fathers Fitzpatrick and keane dea-
con and subdeacon. Father Caillet
was the attendant of honor. Cardinal
Gibbons occupied the throne with Fa-
theirs Stanley and O'Gorman as escorts.
Directly opposite the cardinal sat
Bishop Grace. with Bishop Ireland on
his right and Bishop Brondel Oh his left.
The other priests present were Fathers
Riordan, Conway and Timothy. Besides
these there were quite a number of
students present. The acolytes num-
bered about twenty.
THE CARDINALS SERMON.
His eminence read the gospel of the
day. the eighteenth Sunday after Pen
tecoSt:
Al that illne Jesus. entering llIO a BOAT,
passed over The water and came into His own
city And. behold they brought to Him one
sick of the palsy lying in bed. And Jesus
said: BE OF good heart, son, thy sins are for
given thee. And, behold some of the
Scribes said within themselves: HE bias
phemeth.' And Jesus seeing their thoughts
said: Why do you think evil in your
hearts? Whether is it easier to say: Thy
sins are forgiven thee or to say, Arise and
walk: But that you may know that the Son
of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins
Chen saith He to the man sick of the palsy:
Arise. take thy bed and go into thy house,
a nd he arose and went into his house.
He then spoke substantially as follows:
Reverend Father and Dear Brethren:
of all the virtues that shine forth in the
life of our blessed Redeemer, none are
so prominent as his mercy and compass
sion for suffering humanity. Mercy
was the salient point in his character,
so to speak, his predominant virtue, if
we can apply this assertion to one who
was perfect in every virtue. Rarely do
we find our Saviour exercising the rigOr
of his justice. but at all times dispensing
mercy and benevolence to suffering
mankind. On every page of the gospel
golden words of mercy shine forth,
and meditating on the gospels of
Jesus Christ, well may we eXclaim
.tThe mercies of the Lord l will see for
ever: blessed be the father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. who comfOrteth us in all
fluctuations" The mercieS of Jesus
Christ are far more conspicuous for their
utility than their brilliancy, and there
is as much difference between the mer-
cieS of our Savior and that shown in the
old law as there is between the law
given on Mount Sinai and the law given
on PentecoSt. We never hear OF our
SAVER exercising his power to perform
miracles as did Joshua, who commanded
the sun to stand STILL OF as Moses did,
by changing the rivers into blood, or as
the prophet Elias, by calling down fire
from heaven, although he was strongly
tempted to call down fire on those peO-
pie who forbade him entering the city
of Samaria. But he refrained, saying:
''1e know not of what spirit We are"
No, the miracles of our Lord were
wrought TO do good to his fellow man.
He gave sight to the blind,
speech to the dumb and strength
10 the palsied man. He fed
the hungry in the desert, raised
the dead to life and restored to life of
grace those who had fallen into sln.
There are two classes of people in this
world subject to great affections, those
that suffer from corporal maladieS and
the poor. and it is to those that our Lord
exercised his greatest compassion. We
see in the Gospel how He healed the
palSied man Of his corporal maladieS.
But it was towards the poor that our
Lord exercised his greatest clemency.
He wished to condemn that
maxim that allies wealth with
dignity and poverty, with degradation.
In order to teach this by example as
we'll as by word, he was pleased to be
born i'll poverty, and he could say: 'sThe
foxes have their covertS and the fowls
of the air their homes, but the Son of
Man has naught .Whereon to lay his
head" He chose as His disciples poor
men, men without any of these qualities
which we consider nowadays as essen
tiai for the attainment of great ends,
and He told them to 90 and preach
the gospel. Oh, religion of Jesus
Christie may then be blessed for ever
world wide and is circumscribed by no
territorial limits. 1t exists everywhere
and blooms especially under the relig-
ions of the ancient philosophers which
was eXpounded to men of exalted
minds, our religion is forced to all
alike, jews and gentiles. rich or
poor. and thanks be to God.
The work our Saviour began to accom-
plish 500 years ago is. being continued
in our times. The church keeps up the
good work. For my part, if had to in
VeStigate all religions for the purpose
of making choice of one, much as
would admire the Catholic church for
the world wide extent of her labors, for
her SteadfaStneSS of purpose and for her
long unbrollen line of rulers, would
be drawn to her still more closely by
THE ORGANIZED SYSTEM
OF her charities which prevail through
out the world. There is no phase of
human suffering for which the Catholic
GhJlrDh docs nrnviHo
She rocks us in the cradle of life and
1u1ls us to sleep in death. She has
foundlingS asylumS where the little
waits are cared for by consecrated viz
gins. She has her orphan aSylums
where parentless youth are cared for
and grow up to be honorable members
of society. She. sends her daughters
into the battle fields to tend the sick and
wounded"
heroic conduct of Florence Nightingale,
a Sister, in the Crimean war. Continu-
ing he said: I'm every Sister of Charity
you have Florence Nightingale, with
this distinction, that they move through
the world without making noise. In
the city of Richmond, few years ago,
/ had occasion to invite the governor
of the state to address the school chill
dren at commencement exercises. He
spoke to them as follows:
''There was soldier wounded nigh
unto death on the battle field of Gettys-
burg. As he lay on the ground, partly
unconscious, and the first signs of life
came to him, he saw by his side a coffin,
ready to take his remains when death
had ended his misery. He also saw the
sweet face of sister of mercy, and
she. bathed his temples, moistened his
parched lips, bound up his wounds, and
nursed him back to life. And now, !" he
added, ''that soldier stands before YOU"
Some time ago in going to New